The present disclosure relates to a light emitting element.
Semiconductor light emitting elements represented by light emitting diodes (LEDs) are widely utilized. In manufacturing a light emitting diode, the method described below is generally employed. A semiconductor structure is formed on a principal face of a substrate by growing semiconductor layers, patterning the semiconductor layers, forming electrodes, and the like. For the sake of convenience, the structural body in which a semiconductor structure is formed on a principal face of the substrate is occasionally referred to as a “wafer” herein. By dividing the wafer which has a semiconductor structure, multiple chips each having a light emitting structural unit can be obtained.
PCT Publication No. WO 2011/090024 and Japanese Patent Publication Nos. 2014-107485 and 2013-165186 each disclose a method of manufacturing a semiconductor light emitting element that employs a sapphire substrate for the substrate on which semiconductor layers are grown. The techniques disclosed in these patent publications form modified regions in the sapphire substrate employed as the semiconductor growth substrate by focusing a laser beam on the interior of the substrate, followed by cleaving the wafer, for example, by radially extending the tape that supports the wafer. It is known that, when creating a modified region in a substrate, a crack forms in the substrate from the modified region as the starting point. Cleaving of a wafer is accomplished by utilizing such a crack.